Timber crisis hampers production in FFC
Sunday, 2 December 2007
CHITTAGONG, Dec 1 (BSS): Acute shortage of timber for making furniture has been hampering the production of the Fidco Furniture Complex (FFC) in the port city's Kalurghat industrial area.
The FFC, one of the three full-fledged furniture manufacturing enterprises owned by Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation (BFIDC) under the Ministry of Forest and Environment, has been in difficulty in supplying furniture ordered by different public and private organisations due to non-availability of raw materials, officials said.
The Fidco has a reputation of making high-quality furniture. The authority usually collects and purchases required quantity of timber from the specified areas called `Kup' in the reserved forest which is allocated by the forest department.
Officials said they had been facing shortage of timber as the forest department did not allocate them `Kup' to collect timber in the recent past.
Forest department sources said they were compelled to stop giving permission to the FFC authorities for collecting timber as number of mature trees in the reserved forests dwindled due to rampant felling of trees in the past.
FFC officials said they had cancelled many supply orders due to shortage of timber and were now trying to collect timber as much as possible by participating in the timber auction conducted by the forest department.
But the quantity is not sufficient for completing the work of the pending orders and for receiving fresh orders from the interested parties.
The FFC authorities think that it would not be possible for them to supply furniture worth about Tk 121.5 million to the government and non-government organisations within the stipulated time if they failed to get adequate quantity of timber.
AGM of the FFC Mohammad Shakil Ahmed told the news agency that despite existing problems the organisation had been earning profit. The FFC has made a profit of Tk 23.9 million in the last two years, he added.
The FFC, one of the three full-fledged furniture manufacturing enterprises owned by Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation (BFIDC) under the Ministry of Forest and Environment, has been in difficulty in supplying furniture ordered by different public and private organisations due to non-availability of raw materials, officials said.
The Fidco has a reputation of making high-quality furniture. The authority usually collects and purchases required quantity of timber from the specified areas called `Kup' in the reserved forest which is allocated by the forest department.
Officials said they had been facing shortage of timber as the forest department did not allocate them `Kup' to collect timber in the recent past.
Forest department sources said they were compelled to stop giving permission to the FFC authorities for collecting timber as number of mature trees in the reserved forests dwindled due to rampant felling of trees in the past.
FFC officials said they had cancelled many supply orders due to shortage of timber and were now trying to collect timber as much as possible by participating in the timber auction conducted by the forest department.
But the quantity is not sufficient for completing the work of the pending orders and for receiving fresh orders from the interested parties.
The FFC authorities think that it would not be possible for them to supply furniture worth about Tk 121.5 million to the government and non-government organisations within the stipulated time if they failed to get adequate quantity of timber.
AGM of the FFC Mohammad Shakil Ahmed told the news agency that despite existing problems the organisation had been earning profit. The FFC has made a profit of Tk 23.9 million in the last two years, he added.